Cook Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Nauru, Niue, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Solomon Islands, and Tonga were represented. Peter O’Neil, prime minister of Papua New Guinea, was selected as the delegation’s chairman, with Niue’s Premier Toke Talagi, serving as vice chairman.
The island leaders and envoys held a brief meeting with Obama, at which he remarked that he too is a Pacific islander, having been born and raised in Hawaii. The leaders discussed climate change issues, already a pressing threat for many low-lying island states.
At an earlier, more extensive “whole of government” meeting with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Sen. Daniel Inouye, Pacific forces commander Adm. Robert Willard and a “who’s who” of federal agency officials, discussions focused on such issues as fisheries and natural resource management in the region, climate-change threats and access to climate adaptation funding, disaster management, and the region’s growing health crisis from non-communicable diseases such as diabetes.
The delegation also attended speeches by Obama, Clinton, Chinese President Hu Jintao and Vietnamese President Truong Tan Sang. Their meeting with Sang at the East-West Center marked a historic first time that a Vietnamese head of state had met with Pacific island leaders. In addition, the delegation attended the APEC CEO Summit and met with top executives of such companies as Visa and Johnson & Johnson.
At a special regional security briefing with top officers at Pacific Fleet led by Adm. Patrick Walsh, topics included disaster assistance, terrorism, piracy, and protection of exclusive maritime economic zones. The security briefing was followed by a private visit to the Arizona Memorial at Pearl Harbor.
In addition, the leaders and envoys attended several receptions with leaders of the APEC economies and top U.S. and Hawaii officials, including Inouye, Gov. Neil Abercrombie and Honolulu Mayor Peter Carlisle.
In presentations and discussions with scholars and experts at the East-West Center, the delegation explored such issues such as possible undersea mining of rare earth discoveries in the Pacific, climate change adaptation and disaster preparedness, China’s expanding activities in Oceania, and regional health threats.
